Thursday, February 28, 2013

Today I decided to make a small presentation of this brand new English band because I believe they are really worth becoming more known.
Starting from their name, I must say that there is no one in the band called Dodson or Fogg. Both names are taken from two characters from Charles Dickens' book "The Pickwick papers" issued back in 1836. The founder/composer/songwriter etc of the band is Mr.Chris Wade, that he might be the new trobadour of the English Folk-Rock scene. His main idea (as far as it seems at least) was to revive the Folk-Rock sound and style of the '70's. And I have to admit he does it really very well!

In order to do that, he gathered around him some very good musicians, and some of the "heavy" names of the '70's, such as:

Celia Humphris on vocals (From the band 'Trees')
Judy Dyble on vocals (From the band 'Fairport Convention')
Nik Turner on flute (From the band 'Hawkwind')
With members like them on the band, you got an advantage at hand from the start, don't you agree?
They have released two records so far, and both within less than 6 months period! Their first one called after their name, was released on October of 2012, and the second one named 'Derring Do' was released almost a month ago. (On the second record there has been a change to the members, with Alison O' Donnell (from the band 'Mellow Candle') replacing Judy Dyble).
Their music is Folk Rock ballads, with rather plain sound, that are based mostly on string and wind instruments. (acoustic guitar, violin, cello, flute, etc). For the ones that are familiar with this kind of music, I could say that they remind me of Donovan somehow. Their sound is rather melancholic, and it takes you back in the 70's instantly. You know, it is the kind of music that you wish that it was raining, and you are siting next to a fireplace with a glass of drink in your hand... :)
There is no reason to make this longer, it is just an introduction to the band anyway, so without further delay I'm posting here two videos for you so you can have a small idea...
Enjoy! :)

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Good morning! :)
I'm very happy to announce that since last night my little blog passed the number of 10.000 pageviews.
I started it almost 11 months ago, on the 4rth of April 2012 to be exact.
I still remember the first post I wrote, when I was loking at the blank page in front of me, thinking 'and now what'? I could never have imagined that almost one year later I will be still here writing a post about all these pageviews this blog has so far. For me it was something new, and something I had no idea about! hehehe
In these 11 months I tried to write here things that I thought many people might find interesting, and I will continue to do so...
I want to thank you all very much for visiting here, commenting, sharing etc...
Have a nice day! :)

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Jefferson Airplane used to be one of the greatest names of the psychedelic movement of the '60's in USA. But with the coming of the '70's many things changed. And they did as well. The changes in the band started when many of their members quit the band before the release of their previous album "Bark" in 1971. The things were not going well between the members of the band, and here they did one last effort to keep the band alive. So for this last (as it proved) album, the whole band gathered up. Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady, Joey Covington, and Papa John Creach all returned. The sessions lasted for about three months, but the tension between the members was there. The result of that was that in many occasions the members of the band were recording their own parts separately from the others. Finally this record was released on July of 1972, but not before the record company forced them to erase a phrase from the song "The Son of Jesus" electronically.
The original vinyl LP release (1972) featured an album cover that folded
up into a replica of a cigar box. The record sleeve bore an image of
cigars; this image was later used as cover art on CD releases. The
inside bottom of the box was covered with a photograph of marijuana.

"Long John Silver" was released from their record company "Grunt Records" and it reached up to #20 on the Billboard album charts.
The album contains 9 songs in total, all of them rather different from Jefferson Airplane's usual music style. They are more complicated, more technical, and if I can use these terms, more "progressive and mature" in general. The production is bad though, and the sound of the album seems like the band was playing inside a closet while they were recording... And that's really pity, cause here you can find some of their finest moments. (After their psychedelic period of course).
Although it might seem a little weird, Long John Silver is one of my most beloved records from Jefferson Airplane. Maybe there isn't any song here that can reach the standards of "White Rabbit" "Volunteers" etc, but as a whole record it it very good one.
My most beloved songs here are: Aerie, Easter?, Eat Starch Mom, Milk Train, The Son of Jesus.
And here is the whole tracklist of the record:Side A: Long John Silver, Aerie, Twilight Double Dealer, Milk Train, The Son of Jesus.Side B: Easter?, Trial by Fire, Alexander the Medium, Eat Starch Mom. My Rating: 4* out of 5*

In the following videos you can listen to the songs Easter?, Eat Starch Mom and Aerie...
Enjoy! :)

Monday, February 25, 2013

PROG & ROLL RADIO SHOW: THE PROG ALPHABET
Good morning all!
As I mentioned a few days ago, last night was our 20th radio show since we started on Just In Case Radio.
So we wanted to make something different. The idea was to play the whole English alphabet from A-Z, and present one band for each letter. But for that we needed more time than the usual 2 hours.
So, The Prog Alphabet lasted fro 2.5 hours, and it was successful! Many people joined us, the chatbox was again on fire, and as far as I saw from the grades, everybody enjoyed another very good show.
Because it was a special show we tried to play some very known bands and some very famous songs, but we had also a few surprises to the program. As for the songs, I have to say that there was a fierce competition in order to enter the Top-5. To understand what I'm talking about here is an example: The 5th song in the Top-5 had an average of 8.33 points, and the 10th song had an average of 7.95 points!
Anyway, I'm posting here last night's Top- 5 songs, and further down the whole playlist...

1. URIAH HEEP: July Morning2. MARILLION: Heart of lothian3. GENESIS: Twilight Alehouse4. PINK FLOYD: Welcome to the Machine5. KING CRIMSON: In the Court of the Crimosn King.

From these 5 songs, the first 4 managed to gather the average of 8.5 that is required in order to participate in the final stage that will take place on next Sunday's show, in order to claim the title as 'Song of the Month".
And since we don't have another show on this month, I'm informing you that on next Sunday's Prog & Roll we will have 10 songs that will participate for this title. 10 songs that their average points were from 8.5 minimum, up to 8.89 the maximum. Now imagine the competition! hehehehe
Finishing this post, I'm putting here the whole playlist from last night:

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Nick Cave is a musician that has a special bond with Athens (Greece).
He performed live I don't know how many times (but they are a lot!), he is coming for holidays, and he has many friends here.
As you can understand there is something very big here between him and the Greeks.
In the last year he was listening about the terrible things that are happening in whole Greece, but especially in Athens, and he decided to write a song to protest in his way against all these very sad things. The song is entitled "Lightning Bolts" and the idea is taken from the God of the ancient Greeks, Zeus. (The father of all Gods). In the lyrics he tries to describe the situation in Greece lately, but also his personal feelings.
You can see the video of that song here, and you can read the lyrics as well.
It is a rather bizarre song, but as I mentioned above, it is actually a protest song.
Thank you Nick Cave!

Hello everybody!
Today is Saturday, and as you know already it is time to post here the best 5 songs I chose, from all the songs I've listened through this past week.
This time I was in the mood for older stuff mostly.
And you will understand this from the list below.
And here are my Top-5 songs for the week that passed:

Friday, February 22, 2013

This is a new series of posts that I'm starting here.
As the title indicates, every now and then I will be writing a post about a record from my collection that I regard as something really good. (According to my music taste of course).

This is just a random picture from the internet

The records I will be presenting here, are not gonna be from a specific musical genre. Although I'm pretty sure that the 90% will be falling under some of the many sub-categories of Rock music.

The main criteria will be my personal opinion about every one of these records. But don't expect very classic things. I mean what's the point of presenting here Deep Purple's 'In Rock'? None I guess...

So as you understood already, be prepared for less known records or bands. (At least the majority of them).

In every post I will try to give some info on the band and the record itself, write a few things about the songs, also mention my most favorite songs from that record, and in the end I will try to add 1-2 videos as well.

Well, that's all! :)
I hope many of you will find these new series interesting, and read them, maybe commenting on them, and so on...

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Good Morning! :)
I'm writing this post in order to inform you about Sunday's radio program.
This Sunday is our 20th show since we started on Just In Case Prog Radio, and we wanted to make something like a small celebration. After giving some thought on that, we decided to make a special radio show with extended length.
So this show will be 2.5 hours instead of the normal 2, and on these 2.5 hours we will play for you the 'Musical English Alphabet'! What does that mean?
We will start from the letter A and continue up to letter Z, and we will be playing one band from each letter.
We will try to play some characteristic bands when possible, including many big names in Progressive Rock, but also some smaller ones. Be sure though we will have some surprises for you.
So, this Sunday night if you want to listen to a 'different' radio show, you are welcome to join our warm company on Just In Case Prog Radio. Our Show will start at 20.00GMT (22.00 Greek Time) and it will finish 2.5 hours later.
As I have mentioned before, the broadcasting is in both Greek and English.
Thank you in advance! :)

The English musician/songwriter Kevin Ayers passed on a couple of days ago, at the age of 68.
He was one of the pioneers of the - so called - Canterbury Scene, and of the English Psychedelic Era.
He was one of the founding members of Soft Machine, and from 1969 till nowadays he was following a solo career, having worked with great musicians such as Brian Eno, Syd Barrett, John Cale, Elton John, Mike Oldfield, and many many others.
He left an important music legacy behind, including the first record from "Soft Machine" and about16 solo albums. His most known record I believe it was his first solo one, released in 1969, named "Joy of a Toy".
May God rest his soul...
R.I.P Kevin Ayers
In the following video you can watch Kevin Ayers himself, speaking about the sixties, and many other interesting things...

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

A German trio
from Dusseldorf, that was highly influenced by the Progressive sound of English
bands such as Emerson Lake & Palmer, Yes etc…

They were
formed in 1971, but they never were able to become known not even in Germany.

One of their
best moments was when they performed live as an opening act for Beggar’s Opera.
Their sound is heavy, filled of Hammond, and in some cases it reminds the sound
of Jon Lord. (The keyboard player of Deep Purple). They were disbanded in 1974, without having
released any record ‘till then. But in
2009 ‘Long HairRecords’ collected all their recordinds and put them in one
record, under the name ‘SWF Session 1973’…

Chandelier
were formed in the end of the’80’s and they released their first record named
‘Pure’ in 1990. They were ‘accused’ as the German Marillion, but I can’t say I
agree with that. They were a 5-person band, and they retained their original
line up until the end, about 7-8 years later. Two years later, (1992) they
released their second album named ‘Facing Gravity’ that is considered as their
best effort in general. Their third and last album ‘Timecode’ was released in
1997, but their sound had changed to a more mainstream one. After this record
the band was disbanded. If I have to recommed a record from Chandelier, this
could be their second one, ‘Facing Gravity’…

In the following video you can listen to the song 'Start it' from their album 'Facing Gravity'

CIRCUS MAXIMUS

Circus
Maximus is a Norwegian Prog-Metal band, that was founded in 2000. Although is a
full time band, almost all their members are having side projects on the side.
Because of the many different musical influenses of the band members, their
sound varies from one song to another. At a song for example one can find some
pop-like melodies, and in the next one heavy guitar riffs.

At the start
of their carreer they recorded 2 demos that made them quite famous in Norway
mostly, and a few other European countries. They signed a record contract, and
on 2004 their first record named ‘The first Chapter’ was ready! The producer
was the rather famous Tommy Hansen (Helloween, Preety Maids), and that explains
the very good production of the album. Two more records followed, ‘Isolate’ in
2007, and ‘Nine’ in 2012, but if you
ask me to suggest one, this would be their first.

In the following video you can listen to their Epic (kind of) song 'Glory of the Empire'

Monday, February 18, 2013

Last Night's Top-5 and Playlist...
Hello everbody! :)
Last night we had another radio show, as we usualy have on every Sunday night...This time we had in mind to make something different, that's why the playlist was more Rock based than Prog, and we mixed the program a bit. We didn't separate our program in parts like we usualy do, but we played many different songs altogether. The result? I think it was good.
There were enough people online listening to our show, and I believe we all had some good time finally.
This was our 19th radio show since we started, so that means that on next Sunday it will be our 20th.
So we thought to make a small celebration by doing something 'special'.
So, on next Sunday's Prog & Roll we decided to put play music according to the English alphabet!
What does that mean?
We will start from letter A and continue until we reach on letter Z, and we will play one band from each letter. We will try to play some characteristic band from each letter, although in some cases it will be tough to choose. So be sure that there will be some surprises... We will play 26 songs in total, and because of that the duration of our show will be a bit longer. Eh, it will be a special evening after all!
Now it is time to post here last night's Top-5 songs as they were graded by our audience for you to see. Here we go:

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Good morning all!
Today is Saturday, so it's time for my usual post. My Top-5 of this last week.
This weeks I was dealing a lot with things that had to do with the radio station, so I was rather busy.
But in the other hand I listened to lots of music. That was the good part! :)
So, without further delay I'm writing here the best 5 songs I've listened in the last 7 days...

Mystery: The World is a Game (The World is a Game) - 2012Rainbow: Stargazer (Rising) - 1976Jethro Tull: To Cry You a Song (Benefit) - 1070Dodgon & Fogg: Nothing at all (Dodgon & Fogg) - 2012Eloy: The Light from Deep Darkness (Floating) - 1974

Friday, February 15, 2013

Hello folks!
I'm writing this post in order to inform you about tomorrow's event we have on the internet radio I have mentioned lots of times here...Tomorrow (Saturday 16/2/13) and at 18.00GMT (20.00 Greek Time) GFreedom Team will present the latest album of the Canadian band "Mystery" called "The World is a Game", that was released last year.
What does that mean? At the specific hour, we will be online (not as a live show though, with microphones etc), and we will play the whole album for you. We will be on the chatbox, writing comments, giving info where needed, and chat with everybody that will be online at that time.
The presentation will last for an hour, which is actually the length of the album.
We communicated already with the band and we trying to have someone from the band online with us at that time, but I'm not so sure that will finally happen. But sometimes this can happen the last minute. So there is still hope.
But in any case it is a very good album that you should listen to, if you are fans of this kind of music of course...
Furthermore, (since I'm already on the subject), don't forget that on Sunday night we have our regular radio show which is live and lasts for two hours. From 20.00 - 22.00GMT (22.00-24.00 Greek Time). So if on Sunday night you are in a mood for some good music, but also for a friendly and fun company, you can join us here: http://www.justincaseradio.com
You can use this link for tomorrow night's presentation as well of course...
And closing this, I'm posting here a video for you to have a small idea about Mystery.
It's the song The World is a Game from the same titled album I was just talking about...
Enjoy! :)

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Hello all!
Today as you might know already is St.Valentine's Day. Ok...
To be honest I don't find anything interesting or right on this specific celebration.
In my opinion is a "made up" celebration, for commercial mostly reasons.
And as I friend told me yesterday "If you wait for this day to show to your special one that you love him/her, then you do something wrong"...
But anyway, since this became a kind of "official" celebration, let's go with the flow...
I want to wish to all of you a very nice St. Valentine's Day! Try to do something different today.
Maybe something crazy! I don't know...
You think about it, and I'm sure you'll find many nice things to do...
And closing this, I dedicate the following song to all those who will be celebrating today, with their beloved ones...
Enjoy it! :)

Monday, February 11, 2013

Goodmorning everybody! :)
Last night we had one more of our shows on JustIn Case Radio, as usual.
Again enough people were with us through the 2 hours of the show, and it seemed that they enjoy it very much. This time the conversations on the chatbox were more serious, and we didn't have so much fun like other times, but it was nice for a change. In these 2 hours we played 20 songs in total, covering a wide variety of musical styles. That means we played songs from 1969 up to present, and from Folk-Rock up to Prog-Metal. We usually like to play many different styles so no one will be bored. Everybody will find some songs that they will like or adore in these 2 hours.
And as for last night's Top-5 songs that were graded by our audience, here is the list:1. Fairport Convention: Crazy Man Michael2. Van Der Graaf Generator: Refugees3. Queen: Death on two Legs/Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon4. King Crimson: In the Wake of Poseidon5. It's a Beautiful Day: Girl with no Eyes
From these 5 songs the first 4 had an average of 8.5 points or more, which means that are going to be in the list with the songs that will be on the final stage in order to claim the title as "Song of the Month". But we still have a couple of shows until the end of the moth, so many more songs will be added on that list.
And here you can see the whole playlist from last night's show:

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Hello all!
A couple of days ago I wrote a post here about the presentation of Distorted Harmony's album that it was planned for yesterday afternoon, in the radio station that I have my radio show as well.
And here I will write my impressions from that event...
The deal was that Thanos Patsos (a producer of the station), had come to an agreement with the band that he would be presenting their debut album named "Utopia", and at the same time the basic composer/keyboard player will be online, speaking with everybody that was there through the chatbox.
At the specific time the presentation started, and everything was according to the plan. Many of the producers (including me) were online, and many people were listening from different countries. If I remember well, there were people from Greece, Turkey, Israel, England, and Germany. But after the second song, the drummer and the guitar player of the band decided to join us online, and one song later the bass player.
So finally we had four members of the band online, and that created a great atmosphere. We were talking all together, asking them about their record, their influences, their plans for the future and so on... At many points they were having fun kidding with each other (and us), and we had a very pleasant time altogether I must say.
It was a great experience, and I think everybody that was online last night really enjoyed it.
As far as I know, we will have more events like this in Just In Case Radio, and there is one I'm working on already. So, I will be informing you from time to time about these kind of "special" events...

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Hello everybody! :)
Another week passed quickly, and it's Saturday again.
Which means that now is time for me to post here the 5 best songs I've listened this last week.
Without further delay here is my Top-5:

Friday, February 8, 2013

Today I will present here a new band that comes from Israel.
They are called Distorted Harmony, and their music style is pure Progressive Metal. Their music reminds one bands like Dream Theater and Symphony X mostly, and that means that here we have some very skilled musicians.
A few months ago they released their debut album named 'Utopia' which is a rather good start-up!
I might not be a great fan of Progressive Metal, but this band clicked in my ears. And I also like supporting new bands when they try to play something good.
'Utopia' contains only 6 songs, all of them rather long and enough complicated. The production is very satisfying, and in general what we have here is a good start...
If I have to find their weak spot, that in my opinion is their singer's voice. No, it's not bad at all! But it isn't anything special as well.And here's a little something that you might find interesting:Tomorrow afternoon (Saturday 9/2), at the radio station that I have my radio program, there will be a presentation of the album, by a very good producer named Thanos Patsos. He will present the whole album, which lasts for almost an hour. But the surprise is that he arranged for one member of Distorted Harmony to be 'On Air' at the same time, speaking with all of us, (through the chatbox), answering questions, and in general have a relaxed chat with everyone. This 'Special Guest' is Yoav Efron, the main composer and keyboard player of the band.
So I guess it is a great chance to listen to the album, and at the same time you can speak to a member of the band. Not bad eh?The presentation starts at 20.00 (Greek Time) or 18.00GMT. I will be there for sure, and I hope many of you as well...
And now it is time for a couple of videos, in order to get an idea of the band.
I chose 2 songs from this album: 'Kono Yume' (the opening track) and 'Utopia' (the closing track). These two songs are in my opinion maybe the best of the record...

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Almost a month ago, I wrote a review about this sitcom American series, called Community.
If anyone wants to read that review, click on the link below:http://gfreedomathina.blogspot.com/2013/01/tv-series-community-season-1.html
After finishing the first season, I started watching the second one. And what a nice surprise! The second season is in my opinion far better than the first. Maybe because I got used to the characters and the style of humor? Or maybe because in this second season the actors are adopting their characters better? Or maybe because the scriptwriters were more inspired? I have no idea!
Truth is, it probably is a little bit of all those together. The actors are acting their roles better I think, the scripts are better by far, and on the top of that, there are a couple of surprise episodes that really impressed me! (I don't want to get into details here because I will spoil the surprise and the fun).
And a very big + for the really epic season finale! In my review of season 1 I wrote that I wouldn't give a rank more than 7 no way! Well, for this second season this 7 will probably would become 7.5-8.00.
Unfortunately the season 3 isn't anywhere near season 2. It became kind of boring at some point, and I really made efforts in order to finish it. This time they took the plot too far, and they tried to make funny things out of no-funny situations. The result as I said before is boring. And it is really pity, because after season 2 my expectations were raised. (Well, maybe that's why I didn't like it so much after all)...The surprise they were keeping for us is the appearance of John Goodman in a few episodes, but I'm affraid it wasn't enough...
But of course this is just my point of view, right? Everybody can have his/her own point of view.
And you won't until you watch it yourselves. I really would like to see some comments here from people that have watched these 3 seasons to see what they are thinking about...
Anyway, in the following videos you can see two very short trailers for seasons 2 and 3.
Sorry, but I couldn't find any better ones...

Monday, February 4, 2013

The following video is made by a fan of Supertramp and it is adopted in today's world.
In my opinion it is a very good job, and the result matches perfectly with the song.
Don't forget that it's not an official video. It is an amateur effort, and we have to see it that way.
But I believe it is worth for more people to see it and learn about it, that's why I'm posting it here.
The song is Crime of the Century back from 1974. Watch it, and I hope you will like it!
I want to thank 'Filaraki' for sending it to me in the first place, so I learned about it.
Enjoy! :)

Good morning everybody! :)
Last night as you know already we had this special event on our Radio show.
We had to choose the best song for January, and this song would be the first of the annual Top-12 as well.
Every month we will do the same, so in the end of this year we will announce Prog & Roll's Top-12. (One song for each month).
Last night's show had two parts: The first one that lasted almost 50 minutes that it was our normal program, and the second one that lasted almost 70 minutes and it was 'The Song of the Month' contest.
We had 11 songs in the 'best of the best' list, and the fight was tough. Especially the first 3 were really very close to each other!
But the winner had to be only one.
And the winning song for January is: ELOY - The Sun Song (Dawn - 1976)
And here is the list with the 11 songs and their final standings, after last night's show:
(Inside the parenthesis is the average rating that they achieved last night)

1. ELOY: The Sun Song (8.50)2. WISHBONE ASH: Throw Down the Sword (8.44)3. STRAWBS: Autumn (8.41)4. PINK FLOYD: Comfortably Numb (Live 1988) (7.72)5. PROCOL HARUM: A Whiter Shade of Pale (Live 2008) (7.61)6. BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST: She Said (7.47)7. SUPERTRAMP: Crime of the Century (7.34)8. THE BEATLES: Let it Be (7.22)9. VAN MORRISON: Moondance (7.18)10. BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST: Paper Wings (6.94)11. RENAISSANCE: Opening out (6.40)
I want to thank all of you that logged in last night, and helped us with your grades, your comments etc.
I believe it was a very nice night with lots of great music but also lots of fun! (As always).
In the following video you can listen to the winning song:

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Hello all!Tonight is our first show for February, and as I have already announced it is the big event!
On tonight's show our audience will chose which will be the song of the past month. (And the first of 2013's Top-12).
During the whole month we were asking from our audience to grade each song we play. All the songs that achieved an average of 8.5 (or more) were put aside in a list. And tonight we will play these songs, and ask from our audience to grade again, but this time considering many options. The technical aspects, the inspiration, the melody, the overall composition, and so on...
There are 11 songs from 10 different bands in total. And at the end of tonight's show we will have the best song for January. Of course I'm not planning to write here which bands and songs are in that list right now.. But I will write a post here tomorrow with the whole list, and of course the winning song!
So if tonight you are in the mood for some really good music, and a good fun, just join our radio show!
The broadcasting is in English and Greek, it is starting at 20.00 GMT (22.00 Greek time), and lasts for two hours. in the first 30-45 minutes will listen our normal program. But exactly after that, the contest will start.
You can log in here if you want: http://www.justincaseradio.com/
Thank you all in advance! :)

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Hello all!Another Saturday came and it is time to post my Top-5 songs for this past week.
The truth is that I was very busy the whole week, and on the top of that I had a problem with my computer. And that's why I didn't post many things. I was using my job's pc from time to time, but is not the same of course. I will try to post a few interesting things for you next week.
But for now here are my top-5 songs for this week:

Search This Blog

About Me

I was born in Athens Greece, and still live there with my wife and my son..
I was DJ in many rock bars and medium size clubs for many years,
therefore music is a very important part of my life. Im a motorcycles
fan, and enjoy travel a lot with my motorcycle. Lately me & my wife we are hosting an internet radio show, and I'm having a Blog on the side.Well, that's all for now... :)